These are the stories of a Dutch engineer, exploring strange new countries, to seek out new life and civilisations, to boldly go where...well...many others probably have gone before...

December 04, 2005

Good luck, bad luck...

Well, the boiler is finally fixed...Last Monday the carpenter came by. Really nice guy. Very helpful and got the job done quick and well. Then ofcourse it was waiting for that crook of a plumber.He showed up on Tuesday I think it was. In the evening. He didn't call before, despite what the landlord told him. The landlord wants to ditch him I think.Ofcourse he didn't fix it immediately. He said some microswitches were broken. He said he rigged it so that we would have heating, but not hot water. What a brain fart! We have portable heaters now! We need hot water! Anyway, on Wednesday, completely to my surprise he comes back and fixes the whole unit. We now have both hot water and heating again.

However...

It's like it is disaster time! On Tuesday my colleague's car got hit by a police car! My colleague thought he was in the right, and I think the police thought so too. As it turned out later, he found out that Bristol city council had changed the linings on the road that week, without providing any messages or signs that the traffic situation had changed. Bristol city council is very good in messing up traffic. I think they do it on purpose, because I cannot believe they are this incompetent...Anyway, Wednesday it was my turn. I leave the car park on site, drive through an exit between two hangars, and on the left and right there are cars parked all over the place. On my right hand site there are also cars parked illegally on yellow areas, which are reserved for lorries. Ofcourse because cars are parked there illegally, the lorry was standing on the left lane of the road, next to the cars. SO basically my whole vision on that sight was blocked. It was physically impossible to see anything coming from that side of the street. As it happens that is my right side. I could only see traffic coming if I had x-ray vision, which by the way I don't...So I carefully nudge the front of my car past the lorry, hoping someone would see me and have the brains to realize I can't see him and therefore take the appropriate action ("appropriate" in this case meaning braking or evading as a minimum). But apparently British drivers are so obsessed about their right of way that this guy actually pushes the throttle and slams straight into my car, spinning it 45 degrees from it's original heading! Thereby writing off my car completely! My whole right front wing was disintegrated, my front bumper was simply ripped off, radiator and other internal organs exposed. I could amazingly start my engine, but there was no way I could get it into gear. Apparently he hit me hard enough to knock the engine out of alignment! Now you should know that although I should have given right of way to this guy, I first need to be able to see that someone is actually coming. Secondly, if he hadn't been "skidding for a long distance before hitting rover" as one of my witnesses stated, my car probably would not have been damaged that badly. He was obviously going faster than the 20 mile/hr speed limit enforced there.I'm still working out the details. My car has to be taken to a garage (I gave them the address, but apparently that was a different department and ofcourse my insurance company does not communicate internally, like a real British inefficient company). I can only hope for a courtesy car (though that remains to be seen, after all I pay insurance for it, so I deserve one and therefore I won't get one). Well... Mean time I am car-less. I hope I get my money quickly so I can buy a new car (not that I will get much...)